More Christmas Pictures

My Angel looking at the tree with her beloved penguin. Her favorite thing is to take all the ornaments off and I find them all over the house.

Madeleine's beautiful stocking, made by my mom. It is all cross stitched and I just LOVE it!! In the little heart locket is a picture of Madeleine with Grandma. It took her a long time to do, but it was so worth it. I know she'll treasure it forever.

Our Christmas tree. She was so excited when she came down Christmas morning. There's the 12 year old Tickle Me Elmo. She really likes him :)
Also my mom got me the Jim Shore angel on top for my birthday. She's beautiful and goes perfectly with our favorite Christmas colors.

It was a hit!

I'm sure this will be the first of many Christmas posts! Ken and my dad did such a great job putting this train table together. They had to take the whole thing apart, find a way to put the bridges on (the blue ones) and put it all back together better than it was. So when we came down on Christmas morning, it was not in the room with the tree. She opened two presents (a tea set and a set of bristle blocks), both of which she loved and played with each for about 1/2 hour. Then she had to go to the bathroom. We have to walk through the living room which is now the train room to get to the bathroom. So I covered her eyes on the way in, and then when she came out, this is what she saw.


Ken had the camera ready and captured her expression. She ran straight over to the trains and couldn't believe they were in her house!!!

After that, we didn't open any more presents. She played with the trains forever - she LOVES them! I'm so glad I bought this even though it pretty much takes up the whole living room.

And I'm really glad I bought the bridges - she loves to play with them.

I think she keeps forgetting that they are in her house, because every morning she comes down and says "Ooh trains!" and runs straight for them. I think she'll get many hours of entertainment from this gift!


So, we still have several unopened presents under the tree. We're stretching it out so she'll get a gift every day for the next few days. She enjoys them more that way anyway.

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas! I'll be back to post more about the past few days. I will say I have been looking at baby boy names a LOT :)

29

Wow, Ken came up with probably the most surprising gift I have EVER received in my life....

The complete naming rights of Baby Boy! I can't believe it. He said I can name him ANYTHING I want! I even asked him some of the ones I suggested earlier and he didn't like, and he said they were all fine, and he'd love it no matter what I chose.

So this changes my WHOLE perspective on the naming process. And it's a BIG responsibility! If the poor child hates his name, he has no one to blame but me....

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Ah, naptime.

Tonight my mom is having a birthday dinner for me, and she has to be gone all day so I get to make dessert! I'm making my favorite, Lemon meringue pie, which I have never made before. It's done and cooling on the counter - I really hope it turns out well!

Today Ken bought me an early birthday present, Anna Maria Horner's new book! And he said we could try to move my sewing machine downstairs so I can actually sew during naptime - right now it is in the room right next to Madeleine's so it wakes her up. I am so excited that I might be able to improve my very limited skills! I've been inspired by some blog friends so last night I tried to make Madeleine a new penguin silky:


The kid loves penguins and you know she's never without a silky! The blue is flannel and the back is satin. Very simple, but effective :)

And just so no one thinks I'm lying about my hillbilly neighbors with their giant snowman and Homer Simpson santa:

You can see how tastefully they are laying flat on the front yard.

Pray for Ken, he's over at my parents house trying to fix up Madeleine's train table. Not sure how that's going, hopefully it'll be all set for Christmas day!

Just make yourself at home, Dear...

Guess what Six is getting for Christmas??

Boy stuff! I got this whole bedding set (well, ALMOST all you see here) for really cheap on ebay. It's new too and it was WELL under $100, even with shipping. It came with everything we need, bumper, sheet, skirt, quilt, etc.. - even 2 valances which is great since his room has two windows. And Ken loves it since he's in the airline industry. I love the colors and the vintage planes. I think I'm definitely going to order the changing pad cover and maybe those pictures. This is what we got Madeleine for her "first" Christmas before she was born - well her quilt so we could match the paint color and Ken and my dad painted her room over Christmas break. I'm not sure what we'll do about painting his room. We might leave it white. We're doing cheap with this baby :) But don't you just LOVE it??

Also, I'm still deciding what to do about the whole diapering issue. I bought some of these All in One's just to try since they were on a huge sale. But I got the small which is supposed to fit from 11 to 18 lbs, which for Madeleine was about 6 weeks to 15 months! So if they work we'll definitely get our money's worth. I also asked for some fitted diapers for Christmas so if mom gets me those, I'll just have to buy some prefolds and covers to round out my stash. When he gets to about 6 or 7 months old we should be set with Madeleine's stash. I am debating whether to buy prefolds and covers for the first few months.... I probably should since I hate buying disposables, especially in the expensive newborn stage. It's like $10 for 30 diapers, which lasts about 3 days. By the time I buy all that, I might as well just buy cloth. Right, Ken? :)

These diapers are so soft it's unbelieveable. I want some of these in adult size when I get to the senile nursing home stage :)

Oh, I also bought him some of these at the same store that was having the 40-50% off everything sale. I couldn't resist, and they will be perfect for the summer! Ok, I'm done buying for him for a while now!! Well... maybe. We wouldn't want him to go NAKED or worse... wear PINK would we Ken? :)

Generosity of friends and strangers

What a day of generosity today! First of all, I was thinking how to do both kids rooms. Madeleine has a huge white changing table/hutch/drawers in her room, but she's really outgrowing the changing table part and there are only two drawers and a bunch of shelves, so not a lot of clothes storage. She also has a white crib. So I was thinking we'd have to move the changing table down the hall to Six's room. However, the crib in there is a maple color so it wouldn't go. SO I thought we would switch the cribs and move the changing table down the hall. But then Madeleine needed a dresser or something. So a few days ago I saw that someone was offering up a dresser on freecycle - 4 drawer in a maple color. I thought that would be perfect for Madeleine's room with her new crib, but you never know what you're going to get on freecycle. So I sent Ken over to their house to pick it up yesterday and it was PERFECT!!! I couldn't believe how nice it was and it goes perfectly with the crib. Wow. (Notice the huge tub of girl's clothes that we're going to have to move out of the boy's room!) And it's in the boy's room right now but we're going to switch the cribs and the dresser and changing table over Christmas break. And if you're wondering why we don't just switch the kids' rooms, it's because Madeleine's walls are green and go with her bedding, and I ordered boy bedding and it's red, white and blue!

Then, my mother in law decided to give us her hutch that she has had for Ken's whole life. She even paid for movers to move it from her house to our house today. It looks fantastic in our dining room! It even goes great with the table and gives us tons more storage, which we really need. (See that advent candle? That was from the first week and I'm thinking it's not going to make it!)

Then today, we got a HUGE box of clothes and shoes from our blog friends Ma and Pa Beck. And I do mean huge! They are all beautiful and I separated them into two piles - one winter pile that she can wear right now and one that will fit her in the summer. There were even a few red dresses that will be perfect for this month! So I got all excited and decided to clean out her closet and drawers so we could put her new stuff away. This was long overdue. I ended up with three bags of clothes that I can give to my friend who just had a baby girl in August. Thank you so much Ma and Pa :) We will definitely get a lot of use out of the clothes! She wore one outfit already today and I have one laid out for tomorrow. And actually, most of the clothes she inherited from Ava are 24 months and the pants just fall off of her. So the 18 month stuff is perfect for right now.

THEN, our friends Sarah and Chris brought us a dinner that we can freeze and eat during this busy holiday season. They are fantastic cooks too. They also brought us cookies and a beautiful framed candid picture of our family from their wedding this past April. I LOVE the picture. I don't think we knew they were taking it. I was in my dress holding Madeleine looking at her, Ken was in his tux looking at her too and he had his hand on her back. It's a beautiful family picture. So thank you guys SO MUCH! By the way, if any of you are interested in hearing some great Catholic music, or if you need some stocking stuffers, Sarah's CDs are fantastic.

We are so blessed to have such great friends. Thank you all again!!

Christmas Meme

From Bren and Brenda

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, egg nog is gross. I like Hot chocolate with Coconut rum, but not this year.

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? All the presents under the tree are wrapped - except maybe her Tickle Me Elmo this year (I got it in high school for some reason and kept it. I just KNEW in the back of my mind it would come in handy one day!!) And the train table of course won't be wrapped. We're setting it out where it will stay which isn't in the room with the tree. We're going to set up the whole village after she goes to bed - I can't WAIT till she sees this!

Colored lights on tree or white? White

When do you put your decorations up? After Thanksgiving - first Sunday of Advent.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mom's homemade mac and cheese. I can't WAIT until Madeleine outgrows her milk allergy and can have this!!

Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Christmas morning. My dad would read the Christmas story out of the Gospel of Luke, then we'd open presents, then we'd have a great breakfast, then go to mass.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think I was about 7 or 8 and kids at school were talking.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We always went to Grandma's house on Christmas eve so we had a lot of presents. Now we're going to my Grandma's Christmas in the morning on Christmas Eve and Ken's mom's house in the evening. I think the kid will get plenty of presents.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Mom has given us an ornament every Christmas since we were born. She made sure to make it something special that we did that year - like a little car when I learned how to drive, a little mouse on a tortilla chip when I first took Spanish, a little wagon with two bears in it when I got a baby brother, etc... Then when we got married we got all the ornaments for our tree. Now Mom is continuing the tradition with Madeleine. She got a Frosty the Snowman ornament this year... it even plays the song! And also my mom made us a beautiful tree skirt a few years ago.

Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it until after Christmas and then I'd be happy with 70 degree temps the rest of the year :)

Can you ice skate? This is an interesting question. I CAN technically, and I actually used to be GREAT at rollerblading in college, but the last time I went ice skating I was trying to do a trick and I broke my wrist. I was in 22 and was in Alabama visiting my family. I had driven myself down there and when I fell I KNEW it was broken. Also I had just gotten engaged and the lady at the ice skating rink had to pry my ring off my swollen finger. Then we had to go to the ER in this crazy town and the male nurse had a mullet and said "If I was a bettin' man, I'd say you broke your wrist!" Then the next day I had to drive myself home - 8 hour drive.

Do you remember your favorite gift? Hm... well my birthday and Christmas are two days apart, so those presents run together. I think this was actually a birthday present, but when I was 16 my mom and dad got me a hope chest that I still have and really love.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Helping Madeleine understand the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Lemon Meringue pie - again not technically a HOLIDAY dessert, but my most requested birthday dessert :)

What is your favorite tradition? Christmas morning with the family.

Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? Both. I'm not gonna lie :)

What is your favorite Christmas Song? Probably O Holy Night.

Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? They're fine, I don't ever really eat them.

Ever recycled a Christmas present? I'm sure it's been done.

I'm tagging anyone who wants to play! Come on, you know you want to.

Shocked and thrilled!!!

This morning my mom, Madeleine and I went shopping - we left around 8am and got home around 4:30. We went to a mall about 30 minutes away, walked all around, had lunch in the food court, then drove to another mall. On the way to the other mall we stopped at several stores and Madeleine fell asleep briefly in the car. Then we got to the other mall and walked around to several stores.

Drumroll please......

She did not have ONE ACCIDENT the entire day!!! She is still in the same Dora pullups she had on this morning! I cannot believe it!! She's doing so well.

Cute Baby Boy

I can't believe I haven't posted this before. Poor second child :) If you want to compare, Here's Madeleine around 20 weeks as well.

Madeleine's first haircut!

I've been thinking she needs a haircut for a while now - she was getting a little shaggy. But I was so scared they'd cut off all her curls, so I've been putting it off. Today I woke up and realized that it is DECEMBER 10th already, and I needed to get her Christmas pictures taken! So her bangs were hanging in her eyes and I decided to give them a little trim. SO not a good idea! I really messed them up, so I drove her straight to the nearest kid haircut place and decided to take the plunge before her 3:30 haircut appointment. They did a GREAT job! We talked about what would happen on the way over there so she wouldn't be scared. She got to pick out a DVD to watch (Elmo, of course) and sit in a little yellow car. She did fantastic.

Watching Elmo.

Still watching Elmo.

They had a great slide there so after she was done she went down it about 100 times.

YAY!! Even curlier than before!!



After her nap we went to get her pictures taken. I figured we would get a few good shots but she did SO good and they were so cute. So I ended up ordering a bunch. Ken said this last picture gives him an idea of what she'll look like when she's older, and she is going to be so beautiful. I already think she's the most beautiful girl in the whole world :)

Christmas Spirit in Abundance around here

Remember my hillbilly, Obama supporting neighbors who have random dogs roaming the neighborhood and numerous cars in their driveway? They also have huge poofy hair and their car has Obama hubcaps! Where do you find something like that? At least now that it's cold they wear shirts.

Anyway, their neighbors are also hillbillies. So when I look out my bedroom window at night, I see an 8 foot tall blow up, glow in the dark Homer Simpson in a santa suit. I SO want to put a hole in it. Right next to him is a gigantic frosty the snowman. Across the street from them is a big green dinosaur with a santa hat. What is going on?? What happened to lights and a nice wreath on your door?

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

She was an angel at mass this morning. Which is a nice change from her behavior at mass lately. And both babies got blessed.

Potty Training update!

Madeleine is doing SO WELL! I think it's finally really clicking. She's in pull ups pretty much full time, except when we're at home and she likes to be "naked girl." She has started to tell me when she has to go, and she can hold it for a few minutes until we get to a bathroom. She is also ok going in public places or other people's houses now. She has very few accidents - maybe one/day in her pull up. She is even going number 2 on the potty! I'm so proud of her!

Ok, here you go...

Me, Roofus (who looks just THRILLED to be in the picture) and Baby Boy at 21 weeks.

Busy....

My mom picked up this book for me today! There's some good ones in there too. Thanks Mom!

Plus, I have a feeling St. Nicholas is visiting our house tonight. Shoes are out!!

Music Class

I did bring a camera to music class today, but forgot to take any pictures! In the fall, I signed Madeleine up with Ava to take a music class through the Music Playhouse. They are fantastic! Each session we get a different CD, with all different songs that they've produced. They try to have the kids learn different beats, meters, etc through the songs. We sit in a circle and sing songs, play different instruments, keep a beat on the kids laps, and they use touch a lot (tickling, twirling, marching, dancing, etc) to teach them all kinds of things. Madeleine LOVES it. She's always loved music, but she especially loves this class. Last session with Ava I kind of felt like Madeleine wasn't getting as much out of it as she should. The very last class last session Ava was sick, and Madeleine got a lot more out of it. She listened better, paid attention, even went and sat on the teacher's lap a few times. So I pretty much begged Ken to let me sign her up for the winter session on a day I didn't work, so it would just be her and I - before her baby brother comes along. He let me, even though it's pretty expensive when you pay for it up front. Today was our first class and as soon as we started singing the Music Class song she had the biggest smile on her face I've ever seen! (You know we have to sing that song every night before bed!) When the teacher asked for volunteers to come sit on her lap for a song she ran straight to her and when she was done she ran to me with a huge smile on her face. When it was over she said "Music class tomorrow?!" At the end of class, the teach remarked to me, "She's a totally different kid without Ava around, isn't she?" That kind of made me sad, but I'm really so glad we get to do this together. She was also very friendly with all the other kids and listened very well to the teacher. And I think she was by far the cutest one in class - haha!

Oh and in answer to a few questions in the comments....
We didn't leave the tree that way - the ornaments were precariously balanced and she has been rearranging them since then anyway.
I don't think I've mentioned this at all, surprisingly, but my due date is April 24. He was measuring a little big at all the ultrasounds so maybe he'll be early? I can only hope. Because the other option is that he'll be BIG and on time.... let's not even think about that. Miss 7 lb 12 oz gave me enough problems!

Fun day at the Children's Museum

Today we spent a great day at the Children's museum with my friend Jenni and her three adorable, well-behaved kids. We had so much fun and got to see totally different things than we saw last time. Here are the four of them ready to go...
Madeleine's favorite part was this slide. She probably went up the stairs and down the slide at LEAST 100 times! This was her expression pretty much the entire time!! I loved watching her and trying to get a decent picture :) It was really a fast slide and she LOVED it!

I was also very proud of her. We've really been working on taking turns and she did GREAT. She stood and patiently waited her turn every single time. When it was her turn she'd say "Now Mannet's turn!"

We also saw the trains and dinosaurs, and rode the carousel again. She couldn't wait to ride "Johnny Giraffe." Then we ate lunch and both little kids were conked out pretty much as soon as we left the parking lot. So of course when we got home she refused to take a nap. So we decided to decorate the tree. It was already up, we just had to put the ornaments on it. I didn't get a picture of the whole tree yet, but here's the section that Madeleine decorated herself....


She was so proud of herself whenever she'd put an ornament on. She would say "I did it Mama!"

Happy Birthday Month to me!

I texted Ken this morning to inform him that it's my birthday month, however he said all I get is a birthday afternoon! I do not think this is fair :)

Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the great name suggestions! You guys must all love little boys - I don't think I have ever got so many comments! If you have any more, keep them coming! I really like all of them. Anna I want to hear some of your "ridiculous" ones!

We have one that we both really like, although I'm concerned about the nickname that he could have. I was with Madeleine too though, but whenever someone calls her Maddie I just inform them that we call her Madeleine. It's rare that anyone calls her that anymore so that is good!

I realize that I've been slacking on the pictures lately. I'll get some up pretty soon. We're going to the Children's Museum again tomorrow so I'm sure I'll get some good ones! No one wants to see a picture of ME, do they?? :) I am still 9 lbs down from my pre pregnancy weight so I am not too worried about gaining weight. YAY! Hopefully the same thing that happened last time will happen this time - I only gained 15 lbs and lost it all in less than 2 weeks.

Boy names

As you can probably imagine, we've been discussing boy names ALL weekend. It's really fun - I seriously had never even LOOKED at the boys section of our baby name books. So we are open to suggestions. Here are my requirements:

His middle name is Landon after Ken's dad, so the first name has to be a saint.

It has to go with our last name, which is the difficult part. Unfortunately we can't use Max or Jack or Zack or Luke, etc....

And of course it has to go well with Father - I'm not gonna lie, I'd be THRILLED if he was called to be a priest :)

So what have you got??

Black Friday

Today I got to do something I haven't done in almost 21 months.... go shopping kid-free! My mom and I hit the Black Friday sales this morning and Madeleine stayed with her daddy. They had a great time - he took her to Barnes and Nobles and they read books, had a bagel, and played with the trains. Then they went to Arbys for lunch and he put her down for her nap. My mom and I hit two malls and some more stores, then mom bought me lunch at Subway. We got a few presents for people on our list, and several more ideas. I felt like we got a lot accomplished since we didn't have to drag the stroller out at every stop! :) And Ken is such a great dad I didn't worry one bit. I can probably count the times on one hand I have left her for 6 hours in her life!

My mom and I checked out some boy clothes at a few stores - SO cute. And I hit my favorite yarn store and bought some brick red super soft alpaca yarn and started on his very first V-neck sweater vest :) Speaking of that, I'm going to go work on it.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Madeleine just woke up, so this'll be a quick post!

I'm thankful for:

1. Madeleine. She is the greatest blessing of my life.
2. My little boy!! Wow I'm going to have my very own little boy, I still can't believe it!
3. Ken. He's been slaving away in the kitchen all day and he is just the perfect husband for me!
4. My family, they are wonderful!
5. My friends, in real life and on the blog.
6. Getting to be an almost full time stay at home mom - my dream come true.
7. That I'm over my morning sickness for Thanksgiving dinner!!

OH MY GOSH!!!

It's a..................

BOY!!!

So do you want to know if it's a boy or girl?

ME TOO! But we have to wait until tomorrow!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Right now I'll leave you with a picture of what went on in our kitchen tonight.....

Our house was built in 1968 and yes, those are the original cabinets and stove. I know. You're jealous.

I go through this every night!

Ken says this is the most true to life thing he's ever seen! As I write this, I'm laying on my couch with the laptop on my legs and my cat is draped over my chest with her face about one inch from my face! She's been doing this a lot lately.

A sensitive soul

One of Madeleine's favorite books is Madeline - the original. (Thank you Susan!) On one page ("and sometimes they were very sad") it shows the little girls looking at a wounded soldier - his leg is in a cast. Madeleine always stops at this page and says "Leg hurt! Girls help!" She is really concerned about him and wants the girls to help him. She usually gives him a kiss too and says "Make him feel better." One day I told her that the girls could help by saying prayers for him and asking God to help him. So now when she sees him she says "Girls say prayers and help him!" I also told her that when she saw someone who was hurt or sad that she could say some prayers and ask God to help them.

This morning we went to Barnes and Nobles and I got her a Charlie Brown Christmas book to look at. She saw Charlie crying on one page and said, "Boy hurt, Madeleine kiss it. Madeleine say prayers help him." Wow I was impressed. Then she gave him a kiss.

So this afternoon we went to a birthday party and someone was playing a video game. It was a cartoon but it involved someone being hurt. I looked over at her and she was silently watching the tv with her eyes filled with tears!!! It absolutely broke my heart into pieces. They turned it off and she wanted me to hold her and hug her for a minute. I was so sad that she saw that and I hope she forgets that she saw it. But I hope she never loses this sensitive, gentle quality. I can see that she really cares for other people already, and I'm SO proud of her for that.

Prayers at 20 months

She can actually do them better than this, and say the entire prayers. But this is the best I could capture on video!

Don't show this post to Madeleine

I found the perfect train table for her! It's very inexpensive, the perfect size, and looks like she would love it! It also comes with extra tracks and trains that are not even shown here. It's up by my dad's work so he's going to pick it up for us on Friday! I'm SO excited and can't wait to see her face when she comes down on Christmas morning!!!!

I have one holy kid.

Today I went to the Mother's for Children group at church. Fr. W, who prayed over me to conceive and then blessed her for the first time, shared his pictures and stories from his pilgrimage to the Holy Land last month. He had some amazing stories and pictures! I never really had a huge desire to go until now. But I'll wait until my kids are older and hopefully bring them.

Anyway, they had mass in all the important places, and even had a Eucharistic procession in the Garden of Gethsemane. Fr. W had a small crucifix that he brought with him and touched to everything - the tomb of Jesus, the birthplace of Jesus, John the Baptist, and the site of the Annunciation, the rock in the Garden where Jesus prayed before his crucifixion, the tomb of Lazarus where Jesus would have touched the rocks, everything! After his talk he had everyone come up and he blessed them with the cross. When he blessed me, he also blessed little "Six." Wow! It was beautiful. I'm so blessed to live in this place and have such great holy people in our lives.

I feel good.

So good. So good. I got you! :)

I'm enjoying this while it lasts! The second trimester is the BEST trimester! I felt horrible the first one but now, seriously, if it weren't for the baby kicking me I would totally forget I was pregnant! I feel totally normal. Last time I had lots of pain - round ligament pain, hip and pelvic pain, etc. I guess Madeleine must have stretched everything out last time around because I'm feeling nothing. And I'm very grateful. I can even drink coffee again!

The only other thing I've noticed is it's getting a *little* harder to bend over and pick up stuff on the ground. But that is it! I hope this continues for a while....

Christmas ideas

I've been looking online for a Christmas gift for Madeleine today, mostly on craigslist. I think I want to give her one nice present that she'll use all the time, and then maybe just a few things to unwrap under the tree. My two ideas are a play kitchen or a train table. At first I was pretty set on the kitchen, and I found a really cute little retro style one with two little chairs and a little "diner table." But then I thought about how much she loves to play with the train table at Barnes and Nobles. So I looked on craigslist and there are 3 or 4 really cute ones that come with a bunch of trains and accessories. One of them is even right in our town and has the train tracks already glued down to the table - in excellent condition. It has trees, tunnels, accessories, a whole little town. It's the right price too. We do have a living room that we hardly ever use, except the computer is in there and two couches. It is right off the kitchen. So the table could go in front of the couch. I'm not sure which one she would enjoy more, and get to use more. I know all her friends would love to play the the trains too.... I'm not sure. What does everyone think? Any other ideas?

Lack of privacy

Subtitled: Will I ever go to the bathroom by myself again?

Every time I go (quite often these days,) she wants to "come" (in quotes because that's what she yells when I say I'm going) and runs toward the bathroom. She sits on her little potty, and gives me a play by play commentary on what I'm doing. "Mama go pee pee in potty! Mama wipe! Mama flush! Mama close potty! Mama wash hands!" Nice. She's doing great on the potty today though!

We had a much better night last night. That vaporizer really helped I think. Although this morning she woke up with a fro! It was pretty cute. She still has a stuffy nose but I think she's getting better. We made some pumpkin bread and it's in the oven right now - the house smells delicious! She loved helping me pour the ingredients in, mix, and taste the "cake batter." (She calls it "cake." It might as well be cake, it has 3 cups of sugar and a cup of oil and it makes two loaves! It sure is delicious, though!

I need a nap.

I cannot BELIEVE how much this kid has been awake over the past few days! She has had a cold and a fever, and her nose has been totally stuffed up. I've learned that a stuffy nose and a little girl who sucks her thumb are NOT compatible.

So Tuesday night I was changing her into her jammies, and she started violently shaking like she was freezing! I touched her belly and she was burning up. So I took her temperature and it was over 102 (I couldn't get her to keep it under her arm long enough to get the true temp.) So I gave her tylenol and she slept pretty well that night. Then yesterday she took a 20 minute nap. Then last night was one of the worst nights we've ever had since we brought her home from the hospital. From 7:30 - 12:30 she was up every 10 - 20 minutes screaming and crying. I tried saline and suction with her nose, more tylenol, sitting in the bathroom with the hot shower running, drinking water, etc. Nothing worked except just holding her and rocking her until she went back to sleep. Then she'd wake up 10 minutes later and we'd start it all over. Finally I gave her tylenol cold/cough and she slept a little better after that, thank God. But she was still up every hour or two through the night.

So then she woke up as happy as can be this morning! SHE was happy and seemed well rested. I needed a venti starbucks (which I did not get!) I just needed it! I thought for SURE she'd take a good nap after that night. I bought a vaporizer, rubbed baby vicks on her chest, used the saline, etc and she was exhausted. I laid down in my bed right after I put her down, and she was up 30 minutes later!!! WHAT?!

THEN, I put her to bed tonight at 7:30, and she has been talking and singing up there for an hour and a half! What is going on? I need sleep!! After The Office I am in bed, hopefully for the night this time! Please God!

Funny girl

Madeleine has decided that she doesn't like to wear a diaper. Whenever I change her she says "Naked girl?" She wants me to let her run around with no diaper. Sometimes I let her and she runs through the house yelling "Naked girl, Naked girl!"

So yesterday we were upstairs, I had just got her jammies on and we were in our room and I had just gotten mine on. Ken came home and came upstairs, and he said he was going to get his on too. So he took off his shirt and Madeleine looked at me and said, "Daddy naked girl?"

Adventures on the potty

We've been home a lot lately, and when we're home Madeleine usually does great on the potty (if I let her run around with just a shirt.) She knows if she goes on the potty she gets to watch a 4 minute frosty the snowman video on youtube or a 10 minute elmo video. So today I went and bought her some Dora pullups. There are a few issues with this. First of all, the smallest size they had was a 4, and she's still in a size 3 when she wears disposable (hardly ever.) So they are a little big on her. Also, apparently the big cloth diaper is the ONLY thing that is holding her pants up. So these 18 month pants she's been wearing are falling down around her ankles when she walks. I could dig out her 12 month pants but I'm sure they'd be too short. So I am going to have to pin her pants on.

Anyway, today after her nap I told her she got to wear "Big girl dora pants," made a huge deal out of it and instructed her that she was not to go pee pee on Dora. She was so proud of her pants - we must have gone into the bathroom 20 times in about 3 hours so she could sit on the potty for one second. But she did NOT go pee on Dora - and we even went to the grocery store. She did really great and was really proud of herself.

Any tips on potty training? Or getting her pants to fit? I know she's not ready for nap or night time training because she always wakes up wet. How do I know if she's ready? And another issue is when we're in public - she gets scared if she's on the big tall potty.

My little heathen child

I guess we've been going to mass more than usual lately. A few times on Tuesday mornings (the only day the kids at school don't go) and a few Saturday morning masses as well. Plus confession and some other things at church. For the past few weeks, she makes it until about the homily and then starts saying "All done church." Loudly. Today we went to 5:30 mass and my parents were there. Of course she was thrilled. But she did the same thing - around the homily she said "All done church. Grandma's house." My parents both thought that was hilarious. The she decided she was going to say all her prayers - over and over, in her normal voice. There was no stopping her, but at least she was praying! When we left, she said very exuberantly, "Bye Bye Church!"

So our bedtime routine goes like this - brush teeth, read 3 books, change diaper, say prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and Angel of God) and then sing this little song from her music class. The song goes.. "I'm so happy to see ____, I'm so happy to see _____, I'm so happy to see _____, everyone has fun in music class." In the class, they go around saying all the kids' names. At night, she tells me what she's happy she saw that day, for example, today she said, "Happy I saw Grandma, Papa, her three friends who sat in front of us, etc." But then she said "Happy I saw Bye Bye Church!"

Maternity clothes

I have issues. The companies that make maternity clothes must think that tall people don't get pregnant. I am 5'9", so it's not like I'm Amazon woman or anything, but I do need "Long" or "Tall" sized pants. Well, they don't HAVE any in maternity. Seriously. I've looked. I mean you can order some, but I buy my maternity clothes off the sale racks and in regular stores there are no pants long enough for me. Anyway, I inherited 90% of my stash of maternity clothes (again with the great friends!) So I pretty much always look like I'm ready for the flood.

I'm kind of at the awkward stage. Like I NEED to wear maternity pants, but maternity shirts look ridiculous on me. So I am trying to find regular shirts that are long enough to cover the stretchy part of my pants. I have about 3 shirts long enough and they are getting a LOT of wear. When I say "awkward" stage, I mean that if people were really looking when I stand up, they might think I look a little pregnant. However when I sit down, it looks like I just have a big fat roll/spare tire. Oh so attractive, especially with my short pants.

Doc appointment

I had my 16 week appointment today and it went great! I had my favorite doctor. Our next door neighbor is my very favorite nurse there, and she switched me from the stupid Pill-prescribing, Obama-supporting doctor to Dr. P. (who delivered Madeleine.) It would have been a quick appointment if not for the blood draw - she measured me and listened to the baby's heartbeat. She asked how I was feeling and I told her I felt so great that sometimes I forget I'm pregnant! And that I can feel the baby move around now and she seems like an active one. When she was trying to hear her heartbeat, she kept moving away! Dr. P. was actually laughing out loud because she said she was a gymnast doing flips! She finally got her to stay still and I got to hear her heartbeat. Then we scheduled my big ultrasound.... for the day before Thanksgiving. That is less than 3 weeks away and we'll get to find out if she is REALLY a girl or if "he" was fooling us! I can't wait.
Dr. P. told me that I won't believe how much I will love this kid - she has three kids and she said when she was in labor with number two, she was thinking "What have I done to my first born?!" But then she absolutely fell in love with her daughter as soon as she saw her, and that it was even better because she got to see their relationship develop. That made me feel really good because it's really hard to imagine loving someone as much as I love Madeleine! (I know I will, but I never imagined I could love ANYONE as much as I love her!)

Then, I had to get my blood drawn. I am not a big fan. I have the worst veins ever, but after I drank two big glasses of water and told the girl to use the butterfly needle, she got me on the first stick. That never happens. I usually get stuck about six times and then get sent down to the lab to "Big Mama." You think I'm kidding.

THEN, we got to spend some time with my good friend and her adorable son Jack. Madeleine and Jack played so well together. And they are giving us their swingset! They moved to an apartment and couldn't take it, so Ken and our friend went and got it today. I love it and I know Madeleine will love it too! Thank you guys so much!!

And back to my regularly scheduled blogging

I don't want to talk about it. Yet.

Madeleine is 20 months old today. Her verbal skills amaze me every day. She uses complete sentences. She says "Let's watch Elmo together!" and it's so cute. But I have to make sure she doesn't turn into a couch potato. I try to keep her to two elmo shows/ day (we tape sesame street and fast forward to the "elmo's world" part.) So about 20 minutes total. She's been using the potty several times/day on the days we're home. She's also starting to really enjoy playing with other kids. Whenever another kid has something she wants, she says "I wanna SHARE!" Today we had a playdate with her friend Michael. They sat at the table eating a snack together and they had a 5 minute conversation about my name. She said "Mama!" and he said "No, Mrs. ___!" haha!

The best thing that's happened lately is that I can feel the baby moving every day now. She gets really active in the evening, especially if I have some chocolate. I LOVE that feeling and it's my very favorite part of being pregnant. I think that ever since the bleeding incidents, I have been a little scared about this pregnancy. Feeling her move all around gives me so much joy and confidence that everything will be ok.

Everything.

Praying, praying....

Tonight we said extra bedtime prayers. When I laid her down, I told her that tomorrow was a very big day for our country - that we were choosing a new leader. I asked her to say a prayer and ask God to help us choose the leader that HE would want. I know she can't understand everything I said, but I also know that her prayers are very special.

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, "Spare him, because he loved us" - and God will look at you and say not, "Did you succeed?" but "Did you try?"~ Congressman Henry Hyde

God help us tomorrow.

Whew!!

What. A. Weekend.

I have some stories but I think I'll save them for when I go private in a few weeks. There might be incriminating evidence! Let's just say the police were called, at least 3 times that I know of so far. We did have a great time, and hopefully helped the pro-life vote just a little bit! Come on, Indiana!!

PS. We did NOTHING illegal. Apparently, people who support a certain "someone" don't take too kindly to seeing certain voting records in black and white. Hmmm....

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween week, despite being sick! (She's much better today.) Today she was a GOP elephant! SO SO CUTE!! Thank you MaryEllen for the great costume! And thank you Jenny for the buttons!

Helping Grandma hand out candy. She would say "Hi kids!" and "Bye kids!"

I love this little elephant! We went to a few friends houses and I think she has enough lollipops to last a while now. She was a great sport with the costume even though I'm sure she was hot - it was 70 degrees here! Our next door neighbors especially enjoyed her costume.

Wednesday we went to Barnes and Nobles story hour (I thought she was better at the time). She was a bumblebee - Ava's costume from last year. SO cute! It even had a little stinger!

And here she is with her cousin Eli - he was a Westie!!! I think they're going to be best friends.

Happy Halloween!! Madeleine's in bed, the trick or treaters are gone, the baby's kicking me and Ken and I are going to watch a scary movie :)

Sick!

Let's just say it hasn't been very pleasant around here. Madeleine must have caught a stomach bug, and hasn't kept anything down since Monday (until today.) The washer has been running non stop and I had to borrow my parent's carpet steamer.
Today she's kept everything down, and when she woke up the first thing she said was "I want supper! I want pasta!" She is funny. I have been forcing fluids too and she's been fine.

We went to vote today, and she got an "I Voted" sticker. We need ACORN around here :)
Can you all guess who I voted for? It's a mystery.... ;)

Decision time

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I have decided to make my blog private. Lately I've been getting some rude, anonymous comments, and over 100 hits/day. I have no idea who is reading this and I don't want to put my child in any danger. So if you want to be added to the list, please email me at regs78 at yahoo. If I don't know you, you won't be added. This will happen by Thanksgiving.

Please watch this

And please read these:

Political Endorsement

and

A Word From Cardinal Egan

Then go vote!!!

Bathtime in the sink

Don't ask why she's in the sink. Our tub is ghetto at the moment. Hopefully Ken will be able to fix it this weekend. Good thing she still fits in the sink!

So, this is what she does EVERY bath - pours water on her head over and over and says "I'm ok!"

By the way, Ashley if you're reading this, I'd like to see a picture of Merrin taking a bath in the sink! :)

First Trip to the Children's Museum

We finally made it down to the Indianapolis Children's museum for the first time! I think it's the biggest Children's museum in the country, and it is GREAT for kids! We had a great time - Madeleine loved playing in the water and the sand. I didn't get a picture of her playing in the sand because she decided to show all the other little kids how much FUN it is to pour sand on top of her head. We had to get out of there FAST!
She also liked filling up the wheelbarrow with the fake rocks and moving them around.

More playing in the water. She dumped the water on her head too. What is with that? Every time she plays in water or sand she dumps it on her head!

This was her first carousel ride! She LOVED it. After it was over she said "Again!" We did come back to ride it again and she got to ride a giraffe - she loves giraffes. She was thrilled with the ride and the music.

We had a great time and we're thinking maybe we should ask for a year pass for Christmas!

We have AWESOME friends!

I got all these bags of girl clothes in one day, from two different friends! After sorting it all out during naptime, I have two bags for "Six" (that would be the new baby's nickname), one huge pile of stuff that will fit Madeleine now, and a huge bag that will fit Madeleine later. Also I cleaned out Madeleine's closet and now have a bag to give away. So I actually put the first things in the new baby's room today. By the way, we chose the nickname "Six" or "Sixtus" after the 4th pope before we conceived this baby. It's funny if you know our last name. Remember Madeleine's nickname before she was born was "Snack." Somehow Six seems more appropriate for a boy, but oh well! It's Six until she's born and gets a real name!

Speaking of great friends, we also got a DVD PLAYER in the mail from our good friends, after I mentioned in a post that ours broke. How awesome is that?! And last week my friend gave us a jogging stroller, a little potty seat, and a halloween costume for next year. And they have given us two other strollers, two carseats, the high chair, and lots of toys and books! And people say babies are expensive :)

Niiiiiiiice...

Ken, riding in the elevator with me today: "Boy, you're really starting to sprout!"

More Rally pictures

27,000 people! Really, even though we were so far back, we could see pretty well AND hear everything perfectly. By the way, this venue is where my class of over 800 graduated from high school :)

Probably the last time we'll use the sling - I'm getting too big! And we were supposed to wear red, and hopefully we'll stay a RED state!!
If the kid has a buckle, all is right with the world. (Not to mention the lollipop and two packages of fruit snacks my mom brought her!) I also brought her a bag of green olives for emergencies - olives are probably her VERY favorite food. I know. Weird. And check out her legwarmers - they were PERFECT!
She clapped VERY enthusiastically whenever everyone else did - which was about once every 30 seconds! There were several rowdy guys behind us wearing shirts that said "Nobama. Keep the change." I enjoyed watching them :)
You see that little purple speck right in the front standing at the podium? That is her - and this is as far as my camera can zoom!
For more pictures not involving my kid, see here.

The Rally!

Blogger is being tempermental tonight so I can only add one picture! Anyway this is her outfit, standing in our yard. Sorry it took me so long to post about this - we got home late last night and we were busy all day today. Ken chose the saying on her shirt. Anyway, it was GREAT! There was an estimated 27,000 people there, so we were definitely in the nosebleed section, but that was ok! The atmosphere was so much fun! Madeleine did not take a nap before we got there and fell asleep as soon as we put her in the stroller. We ended up getting in right before the festivities started - they had Aaron Tippin, some country singer sing several songs and get everyone going. Then of course everyone went nuts when Sarah came out! Her speech was fantastic. Madeleine did so great, she clapped and laughed every time everyone else clapped. We got home late and had a very tired little girl today! She was so fun at her very first political rally :) I will definitely try to post more pictures tomorrow!

I can't believe the luck!!

Today, my friend told me she had an extra ticket to go see Sarah Palin in Indy on Friday afternoon. So, I called Ava's mom and asked if she minded if I took her too - Grace has the day off and is going to work with her mom. She said that she really needed Ava to be at her mom's house by 5, but said I could drop her off there early so I could go. SO, then I asked my mom if she wanted to go too - and I assumed Madeleine did not need a ticket. Several of my friends and their kids are going too - the smart ones anyway - haha! I needed another ticket for my mom, so I called the GOP office and they said they had some. After Madeleine's nap we drove over there and got in line. As soon as I walked up, they said I better get in line soon because they were almost out. There were several people who walked up there right around the same time but somehow I got in front of them (and I didn't cut anyone!) So when I got up to the table, they said the only had 5 left! I asked if I could have all of them (I had several friends who wanted to go if I could get a ticket) and they said I could only have 4. So I got 4 out of the last 5 tickets!!! I was so excited and got out of there in a hurry :) Plus they said EVERY single person needed a ticket, even babies. So we were lucky!

SO, I need to make Madeleine a shirt. What should it say?

Here are some options:

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Raised Republican. I can help myself.

You Betcha!

Drill Baby Drill!

Doggonnit, vote for McCain/Palin!

Any other ideas?

Sometimes converts make the best Catholics

My husband is a great example of this. Several of our friends intend to vote for Obama. They are good Catholics and Christians, so of course we were very surprised. He pretty much has the Catholic Voter's Guide memorized, and has been sending it out right and left. In addition, he's been defending his position and arguing their positions point by point in a very clear, concise, and loving way. So I am very proud of him!

Today he wrote an article on facebook for everyone to see. I thought it was great, so I'm going to post it here.

That does it Catholics, Come to your senses!

I've tried hard to be empathetic with my Catholic friends who have managed to reconcile voting for Obama with their faith, but after reading this:

Article

... I can no longer hold my tongue. A serious Catholic is delusional if they think that voting for Obama's social policies (which have historically proven to be not only ineffective, but counterproductive) can somehow balance the travesty that is his record and rhetoric on abortion and embryonic stem cell research. The Catholic Church holds that to enable the evil acts of another, or to refuse to act to prevent them when possible, is a sin. While judgment ultimately belongs to God, I cannot find, nor have I ever heard, a justification for supporting Obama's horrific record on the unborn (and even the born!) as to make voting for him anything other than what it is: a sin. I understand this will upset some of my very good friends. I understand that they believe that serious thought and prayer has led them to believe that taxing the rich (and small businesses), funding government poverty programs, and teaching kids to be radical activists instead of educated young adults somehow make his unquestionably anti-life positions palatable. But the truth (and the truth sometimes hurts) is that they are wrong. And the thousands upon thousands of abortions that will ensue from his election will bear this out.Bottom line: a Catholic may disagree with whether McCain's policies will help the poor more than Obama's, or benefit healthcare more than Obama's, or lead to more jobs than Obama's; but they cannot say that his policies perpetrate evil. Obama on the other hand has clearly espoused an agenda that, through the lens of the Catholic Church, is unequivocally morally repugnant. The election may not turn out like I want (though I will continue to pray otherwise), but I will never, ever, second guess my vote. But I have a strong feeling that a few of my friends, on the other hand, will someday be confessing theirs to a priest.

I'm proud of you, Ken!

A day at the Pumpkin Patch

The kid LOVES pumpkins. She was thrilled to be free to run around hundreds of pumpkins.

Tiny baby belly :)
Beautiful flowers - we love fall! I had a really cute little fall outfit and hat for her to wear, as I was thinking a long time ago about this trip. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the temperature was in the 80s, so we couldn't wear the outfit and of course she didn't need a hat! We had a great time, and especially enjoyed the apple cider.

Second Trimester!!

I hit 13 weeks so apparently from my iVillage weekly update, I'm in the second trimester or the "honeymoon phase" of pregnancy! Well, that sounds good.

We had a great day! We went to mass this morning, then had to say a prayer to St. Anthony because I had misplaced the camera. Luckily, he came through and we found it! We went to two pumpkin patches today and got some great pictures, which I will post tomorrow. Madeleine LOVED them - she gets so excited when she sees pumpkins and she loves apple cider. We came home and we both took a two hour nap, which was fabulous. Then we went to mom's house to watch the last part of the Colts game - and they won by a mile. Then Ken and I got some great new verizon phones. We switched from sprint since a bunch of our friends and my parents switched and I was going over every month in my minutes, plus I could only get sprint coverage in one spot in my house and I wasn't very happy about it. I love my new phone (and my new unlimited text messaging!)

I got pretty sick when I got home (so much for the "honeymoon phase") but I feel better now.

Beautiful days

We've been enjoying this beautiful weather SO much. Madeleine LOVES to play in the front yard with all her great freecycle toys. After a few time outs she has mostly learned to stay away from the street and not go in the neighbors' yards. It's SO much fun to sit out there with her.

We have a really fun weekend planned. We're going to visit my Grandma tomorrow morning, then go to the pumpkin patch. Oh the poor kid is getting a flu shot too, hopefully getting a pumpkin will help her forgive me a little :) Then we'll have a great Colts party at Grandma's house (Madeleine's grandma) on Sunday. I love weekends.

I'm feeling pretty good. I had lots of good days this week, and today was a little rough but it's ok. The hard days are getting fewer and farther between. I had a great doctor's appointment yesterday. I saw the doctor who delivered Madeleine - she is my main doctor now. I got switched to her from the guy who told me to be on the pill for 3 months - thank God! She was so excited to see me, and said she would never forget me, because I was the only person she'd met who said they were ready to have another baby the day she had the first baby in the hospital! I love her! I got to hear the heartbeat and it was great. She said she's a happy little squirt, and very active. That seems to be the trend. I am hoping this one is a better sleeper - please God! I have one more regular monthly appointment at the beginning of November, then she said two or three weeks later we'd schedule my ultrasound - so we can see if she is REALLY a girl. I can't wait! That should be right around Thanksgiving.

I am off to bed!